Name: Black Caps, Ok, College Puddings
Ingredients: 3 eggs, separated; 2 ounces all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg; 1 ounce candied lemon peel, chopped; ¼ teaspoon grated ginger; 6 ounces beef suet, chopped fine; 6 ounces currants

Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Black Caps, Ok, College Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a basin, combine the beaten yolks and whites of the eggs with flour, nutmeg, candied lemon peel, and ginger. Mix well with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Add the chopped beef suet and currants, and mix until combined.

Cook and serve

Boil in a cloth for 1 hour, or in small cups tied in a cloth for 45 minutes.
Serve with melted butter flavored with white wine or a little rum.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the batter and add richness and lift as they set during boiling.
All-purpose flour: Provides structure so the pudding holds its shape when cooked.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
Currants: Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, nutmeg, lemon, ginger, beef):

Limefits better
Raisinfits better
Orangefits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, nutmeg, lemon, ginger, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.